Powers/Abilities:
Atar possesses the conventional attributes of the Persian Gods. He has superhuman
strength (possibly Class 50), stamina, resistance to injury and various skills
mystical in nature. He may be able to control fire, but he has yet to demonstrate
the full range of his power. According to his worshippers, he could purify
objects be eating them. He can also cross between various dimensions because
he was supposed to guide the cremated dead to the afterlife.

History:
(Hindu-Persian Myth)- Agni is the son of Dyaus, the sky-god, and Prithivi,
the earth-goddess. Very little is known about his role or his character except
he was one of the most important gods of the early Vedic Pantheon. He presided
over sacrificial flames and guided the spirits of the cremated dead to the
underworld to await their next life. As the Rakshasas led by Ravanna supplanted
the Vedic gods, Agni protected the monkey-god Hanuman and led him to safety
even as he himself was forced into the role of cook before the demons.

The god Vishnu subsequently led the Vedic
gods to conquer the Rakshasas as the Vedic Gods were replaced by the religion
of Hinduism. Agni became the god Atar under Zoroasterism, a religion where
all the old Vedic Gods found worshippers under new names. Varuna became Ahura
Mazda or simply, Ormazd, the ruler of the Persian Gods in Zoroasterism.

Atar, however, lost his son, the war-god,
Kartikkeya, to Skanda, the son of Shiva, who was god of war in the Hindu
Pantheon. Skanda assumed his predecessors identity and took over many
of his aspects.

Atar is also credited with slaying Azhi Dahaka,
one of the Asuras. Guilty for many undefined defiances against the gods,
Dahaka was chained to a mountain by Atar.

(Amazing High Adventure#5/3) <1870's> An Indian rebel
called the Mahdi, seeking to destroy the British army, prayed to the Hindu
gods, demanding the power to fight the British. In a vision, Yama, Ratri
(goddess of night), Agni (god of fire, two-headed), Maya (goddess of dreams),
and Kâli granted the Mahdi powers and weapons to fight the British. From
Yama, the Mahdi gained a fiery sword, from Ratri the power of "the night's
shadows", from Agni sacrificial flame, from Maya the power to drive his enemies
to despair with illusions, and from Kâli the wheel of destruction. The Mahdi
then used these powers in battle-only to discover too late that he had offended
the gods by trying to order them around. The Mahdi's weapons were only illusions,
and he died in battle.

(Marvel: The End#2, 5-6)- In recent years,
Atar met with the Council of God Kings to surmise the threat that the mortal
Akhenaten posed to their worlds with his cosmic powers. However, Akhenaten
sensed their plotting and destroyed all of them except for Thor and Zeus
who escaped.

(Marvel Universe: The End#4 - BTS) - Thanos gained the virtually
unlimited power of the Heart of the Infinite and altered time so that Akhenaten
never gained his power, effectively undoing his actions and restoring those
he had destroyed, including Atar . However, to those who could understand
or even remember what had happened, these actions were seen as the replacement
of one threat with another, perhaps even worse.

(Marvel Universe: The End#5, 6 - BTS) - The Godheads, including
Atar, joined together with a multitude of heroes and villains from Earth
and the rest of the universe to oppose Thanos, who had gained supreme power
from the Heart of the Infinite. Thanos easily wiped out every single being
in the universe, but later was convinced by Adam Warlock to sacrifice himself
to restore the universe to its previous state.

Comments:
Adapted by Bill Mantlo and Steve Purcell for Amazing High
Adventure; Adapted by Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom for Marvel Universe:
The End

This entry obviously merges the many details
and characteristics of Atar/Agni with all his facets in Hinduism, Zoroasterism,
Balinese-Hinduism and other forms. If you have something to add or remark
on, please send it to
aesgaard41@hotmail.com rather than the creator
of this site (I'll take a copy, too, though). If at all possible,
I have tried to follow the most official version of the character
described in myth rather than the religious importance of the character.
No offense is intended.

In his role as Atar, Agni is described as
the son, rather than the grandson, of Varuna (Ahura Mazda). But then, in
myth, terms like son and grandson do not exist and son was used
in place of these modern terms.

In myth, Atar/Agni is described alternately
as a red-skinned man with three heads or a four-armed figure with black smoke
as a
body.

Naqsh-I-rustem is a silent valley in modern
Iran (formerly Persia) near the ancient ruins of Persepolis. Numerous temples
and statues of the Persian gods exist here.